Spatiotemporal evolution of crop grey water footprint and associated water pollution levels in arid regions of western China

Danyue Zhao, Wenxin Liu, Rong Gao, Ping Zhang, Meng Li, Pute Wu and La Zhuo

Agricultural Water Management, 2023, vol. 280, issue C

Abstract: The widespread use of agricultural fertilisers threatens freshwater ecosystems hugely. Grey water footprint (GWF) assessment can be used to evaluate the freshwater pollution level. However, the national fertiliser leaching-runoff rates have been assumed constant while analysing GWF, and this omission could compromise their spatial variations at intra-national levels. This study quantified the GWFs for 12 crops and their related water pollution levels (WPLs) by taking into account the spatial variability of fertiliser leaching-runoff rates in 51 prefectures across five provinces in West China from 2001 to 2017. Considering the main crops and all the provinces, results showed that GWF of unit mass of crops (in m3 t−1) decreased due to increasing crop yields. The total annual GWF (in m3 y−1) increased by 45% during 2001–2017. Although a reduction in the crop fertilisation rates was observed, on average, the expansion of the intensively cultivated areas outperformed the former, thus, worsening the general pollution level. Although declining, the resulting WPLs were always greater than 1 during the study period, pointing out persistent conditions of water pollution. It can be concluded that adjusting crop allocation to land in water-shortened areas was more effective in reducing GWF than simply lowering the fertilisation amount.

Keywords: Nitrogen fertiliser; Phosphors fertiliser; Leaching-runoff rate; Chinese prefectures; Crop production (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:280:y:2023:i:c:s0378377423000896

DOI: 10.1016/j.agwat.2023.108224

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